Electrical contacts, or terminals are commonly attached to wire cables by employing a crimp to form a crimp connection. In one such electrical application, a barrel-type terminal is utilized that attaches with an aluminum wire cable. The barrel-type terminal includes a portion defining a hole that receives the wire cable. While typically manufactured in a screw machine, the inner portion of the barrel-type terminal has a smooth internal surface. When the portion of the barrel-type terminal is crimped to an aluminum wire cable, the inner smooth surface of the barrel-type terminal may not engage the aluminum wire cable in a manner that allows breakage of oxides disposed on a lead of the wire cable so that a robust, reliable electrical connection of the aluminum wire cable to the barrel-type terminal is attained. Undesired high resistance crimp connections using these smooth surfaces may result that negatively affect the electrical performance of these crimp connections while a mechanical pull force of the wire cable from the terminal may be undesirably decreased.
What is needed is an electrical contact element that overcomes the foregoing shortcomings while allowing robust attachment of the aluminum wire cable to the terminal.